1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electronics, and more specifically to techniques for managing a mobile device.
2. Background
Mobile devices have become an increasingly important part of everyday life for consumers. These mobile devices include cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptops, netbooks, etc. Computing power, data rate, and storage capability of mobile devices have grown tremendously in the past several decades and are expected to continue to grow at a rapid pace. As a result, mobile devices can presently support a number of services in addition to voice calls. For example, a smart phone may allow a user to make phone calls, browse the web, watch videos, listen to music, send instant messages, manage bank accounts, make stock trades, etc.
New services and applications are continually being offered to further enhance the usefulness of mobile devices. For example, a number of companies have been developing services and technologies to integrate cellular phones with biophysical and medical sensors to allow a user to manage his/her health and wellness conditions using a cellular phone. Furthermore, a number of network operators offer services to allow users to dynamically download applications to mobile devices, thereby further expanding the capabilities of the mobile devices.
Many services and applications available for mobile devices require processing power, multimedia processing and rendering, network connectivity, and/or personal area network support such as Zigbees and Bluetooth. These various activities typically increase power consumption of mobile devices. However, mobile devices normally operate on internal batteries and have limited battery power. Improvements in battery capacity have not matched improvements in processing power and bandwidth of mobile devices as well as an explosion of services and applications for mobile devices. Consequently, battery life of mobile devices is often a major limiting factor and a main source of complaints from users.